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“Add to this the pressure of working in the NHS increasing as the population’s health needs become more complex, and we are seeing the resulting crisis of more nurses leaving than joining the NHS [across the country].”

Mr Christaki believes the government has a “clear choice”.

He said: “Valuing the NHS requires a commitment to invest money into it, not just more money but enough money.

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“Enough to meet the health and social needs of the population. Nurses must be attracted to the NHS with fair pay, flexible working patterns and better working conditions.

“The RCN, along with other trade unions, are demanding in this year’s pay round, a cost of living increase plus £800 to start to close the gap caused by years of below inflation pay increases.

“It is time the government showed that they value our nurses and their other NHS colleagues.”

A chief nurse in Gloucestershire gives his take

Steve Hams said: "We’ve put a huge amount of work and effort into both the recruitment and importantly the retention of nurses at our hospitals in Cheltenham General and Gloucestershire Royal.

“The overall number of nurses working in our wards has increased year on year over the last five years which is a signal of our commitment to high quality patient care.

“All organisations have a staff turnover rate – we are no different – and our retention is broadly in line with other NHS trusts of a similar size.”

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Mr Hams suggested career progression, retirement and lifestyle choices could all be factors in nurses leaving.

He added: “We recognise that staff wellbeing is an important ingredient in improving and maintaining staff morale, which is why we’ll continue to invest time and expertise in developing our staff support service, as well as our physiotherapy self-referral service.

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“We’ll also continue to work with staff to identify, understand and enhance our work environment.

“Nursing will always be an attractive career prospect because it is immensely rewarding, challenging and interesting.

“There are few career opportunities that have such a positive influence on someone else’s life.”

The government’s response

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman defended the figures.

She said: "Nurses are at the heart of our NHS and that's why there are 14,200 more on our wards since May 2010.

"We want to keep these hardworking staff in our NHS and also build a workforce fit for the future.

“That's why we announced the biggest ever expansion of nurse training places with 5,000 more available from 2018, opened up extra routes into the profession and continue to support nurses to improve work-life balance and work more flexibly.”

If you want to share your experience of being a nurse in Gloucestershire with us, email a brief message and your phone number to conor.gogarty@localworld.co.uk

If you are a student nurse and interested in joining the Gloucestershire Hospitals trust, it is holding a recruitment open day on Thursday, February 15 in the Atrium, at Gloucestershire Royal.